pacesvsparésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: paces is a verb, parés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“paces” is a verb and “parés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,583
“paces” frequency rank
#43,589
“parés” frequency rank
87172
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paces parés
Definition Deuxième personne du singulier (tú) du présent de l’indicatif de pacer. Masculin pluriel de paré.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set paces and parés apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
paces
5 ch
parés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: paces is \ˈpa.θes\ while parés is \pa.ʁe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87172, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paces is recorded at frequency rank #43,583, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈpa.θes\. parés is at rank #43,589, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pa.ʁe\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 87172, this pair ranks #8,660 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of paces vs parés

Shared letters: aps. Private to "paces": ce. Private to "parés": .

"paces" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "parés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pacesapces · pacces · pacess · pacse · paecs · pcaes · ppaces

Frequency comparison

paces#43,583
parés#43,589

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "paces" and "parés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "paces" is a verb and "parés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "paces" or "parés"?
"paces" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #43,583 in our French list, against #43,589 for "parés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering paces vs parés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “paces”; for an adjective, it's “parés”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “paces” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list